Children’s Residential Program Celebrates Passover
This year, residents, and staff from House 28 of the Children’s Residential Program continued their annual cultural tradition: gathering and enjoying a Passover seder together.
Speech and Language Pathologist Deborah Lapidus led the celebratory meal and storytelling while Assistant House Manager and resident chef Ronny Fisher, prepared the food served on the seder plate.
With Deborah’s help, Ronny incorporated all the traditional fixings including bitter herbs, greens, and shank bone, among others. With the children seated around the table and listening intently, Deborah led the Haggadah, a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover seder telling the story of the exodus from Egypt.
As a speech pathologist, Deborah manages the children’s eating guidelines. She creates individualized eating plans that adhere to their dietary needs and limits potential health hazards like choking.
When organizing a Passover seder and Hanukkah gatherings, Deborah can share her heritage in a way that aligns well with her role.
After maintaining these traditions for a few years, she noticed residents becoming more familiar with the hallmark features of each holiday.
“Noah asked if we were having pancakes today, he was thinking of the potato latkes. I reminded him that those are from our Hanukkah celebration. Then he asked if we were having matzah and I said, ‘Yes!’ I’m happy to see that they are remembering the events,” said Deborah.
After the storytelling and sharing of the seder plate, the children enjoyed games that included masks and finger puppets with the characters from the story. They also completed activities that helped them learn more about what story they just heard.
These gatherings are always a fun opportunity for the children and their staff to spend time while learning more about each other’s heritage.